Hmm... Aliens?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

I've clearly over-priced their templates. Thank you.

Yay. Cheap headless chicken cars for EVERYBODY!
Oprahcuttlefish: "Look under your seats. You get a chicken car, and you, and you..."

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I think a better example may be the animals of Pandora, from Avatar.

It reminds me exactly of the creatures in one of the Barsoom books. Whichever the one with Carter's daughter is. Fighting Man of Mars?

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

It reminds me exactly of the creatures in one of the Barsoom books. Whichever the one with Carter's daughter is. Fighting Man of Mars?

I believe the book in question is The Chessmen of Mars

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Sindri

I believe the book in question is The Chessmen of Mars

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking about.

[Dangerious P. Cats]

I find that in order to make aliens feel properly alien feeling aliens you should think about their behaviour rather than their appearance. You can probably find some nice behavioural disadvantages to give your aliens that will make them seem strange to your players.

[jhite]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

I find that in order to make aliens feel properly alien feeling aliens you should think about their behaviour rather than their appearance.

In a similar vein, I would think that the aliens' environment would also matter in a big way, and is likely to decrease their total point costs, too.

Since GURPS prices are derived from standard HUMAN norms, an entire race could have Unusual Biochemistry in relation to human chemical interactions, even if their home planet has an abundance of compatible substances. I would think that Restricted Diet, Increased Sleep, and Alcohol Intolerance (to focus on physical traits), or Callous, Clueless, or Low Empathy (going back to the question of behavior) could all apply to species which are fully internally functional, but basically incompatible with the physical and/or social environments of other societies.

Eyeballing those suggestions, you could easily reduce the cost of an alien race by 30 points without breaking a sweat.

[jason taylor]

How about abnormally high empathy to the point of suffering physical sympathetic pain?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by jhite

In a similar vein, I would think that the aliens' environment would also matter in a big way, and is likely to decrease their total point costs, too.

Since GURPS prices are derived from standard HUMAN norms, an entire race could have Unusual Biochemistry in relation to human chemical interactions, even if their home planet has an abundance of compatible substances. I would think that Restricted Diet, Increased Sleep, and Alcohol Intolerance (to focus on physical traits), or Callous, Clueless, or Low Empathy (going back to the question of behavior) could all apply to species which are fully internally functional, but basically incompatible with the physical and/or social environments of other societies.

Eyeballing those suggestions, you could easily reduce the cost of an alien race by 30 points without breaking a sweat.

That assumes the aliens are very small minorities among humans.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

That assumes the aliens are very small minorities among humans.

Which is quite typical.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Which is quite typical.

Of Star Trek, and Star Wars, but I prefer to avoid those stereotypes.